New to the hobby

wesmx · Jun 13, 2022

Hi.

I am new to the hobby of reef keeping and reef2reef community. I have recently setup a 30L aquarium. It is a Camry Q3-380. As I knew nothing about reefs or marine aquariums, I did my research, spoke to some people in the hobby and read a few articles. I chose the dead shrimp cycle, with sachem stability. A month later I had my water parameters tested at my LFS and got the thumbs up the tank was ready.

My question is around the fish in the tank, I have two juvenile clown fish in the tank. The LFS I got them from gave me advice on what time they were fed and what food they were feeding with. The fish were fed in the morning and with blood worm.

This morning when turning on the lights, I found the clowns "sitting" on the sand bed. I naturally thought they were dying as I could see very little movement but I could see them breathing and moving very slowly. I left them for a few minutes and came back to find them swimming normally around the tank. Is this normal clownfish behaviour. Do clown fish sleep? I keep no lights on at night. I have the blues set to about 20% at night for two hours before turning them off. and blue/white on during the day at 60%.

I tried to feed the clowns this morning but they were very uninterested in the blood worm. As my LFS told me they feed them early morning, I tried to keep to the same routine. The blood worm floated to the bottom and that is were it stayed. Should I be concerned about this? The late afternoon before, I fed a little to see how they would react and they ate perfectly fine.

Thanks in advance.

Waters · Jun 13, 2022

Yes, totally normal for Clowns to lay down on the sand at night (or anywhere else for that matter). I wouldn't be too concerned about them not eating yet since they are new. You can try some other foods also (like mysis).

Saltydog22 · Jun 13, 2022

wesmx said:
Hi.

I am new to the hobby of reef keeping and reef2reef community. I have recently setup a 30L aquarium. It is a Camry Q3-380. As I knew nothing about reefs or marine aquariums, I did my research, spoke to some people in the hobby and read a few articles. I chose the dead shrimp cycle, with sachem stability. A month later I had my water parameters tested at my LFS and got the thumbs up the tank was ready.

My question is around the fish in the tank, I have two juvenile clown fish in the tank. The LFS I got them from gave me advice on what time they were fed and what food they were feeding with. The fish were fed in the morning and with blood worm.

This morning when turning on the lights, I found the clowns "sitting" on the sand bed. I naturally thought they were dying as I could see very little movement but I could see them breathing and moving very slowly. I left them for a few minutes and came back to find them swimming normally around the tank. Is this normal clownfish behaviour. Do clown fish sleep? I keep no lights on at night. I have the blues set to about 20% at night for two hours before turning them off. and blue/white on during the day at 60%.

I tried to feed the clowns this morning but they were very uninterested in the blood worm. As my LFS told me they feed them early morning, I tried to keep to the same routine. The blood worm floated to the bottom and that is were it stayed. Should I be concerned about this? The late afternoon before, I fed a little to see how they would react and they ate perfectly fine.

Thanks in advance.

very nice

Jekyl · Jun 13, 2022

Agree with trying to vary the food. Frozen fish eggs was always a huge hit in my tank.

Anemone_Fanatic · Jun 13, 2022

Welcome to R2R! Clownfish do sleep on the sand sometimes. They generally find a safe area, and just stop swimming to rest. Mine slept on the overflow gate, which gave me a fright when I first saw them. I thought that the flow had sucked them to the overflow and killed them. Nope, just sleeping. As far as the food goes, frozen mysis or fish eggs are the best for them nutritionally speaking. Blood worms aren't the best food for them, and I'd recommend switching to something else. I hope that this helps!

wesmx · Jun 13, 2022

Thank you to everyone that commented. Your advice and comments were much appreciated.

I managed to get some mysis from my LFS and some dry food as well.

Today when I got home I noticed the Clowns were and are much more active then yesterday. They are now swimming all around the tank and not hovering in a pair in a corner.

They ate but not alot.

Thank you all again.